Vague, quick question, what TV brand from the list below would you ‘trust’? ie - what TV is likely to continue to be supported, and has an OS which isn’t a dead end (I can’t believe we need to talk about OS’s on TVs now!)
My ‘default’ would’ve been Samsung - but my one extra requirement for this purchase is that it’s got to be a ‘Freely’ TV so that I can watch live channels through a nice TV Guide via the internet rather than through an aerial (as I don’t have an aerial!).
The choices are:
Bush
Sharp
TCL
Panasonic
Toshiba
Hisense
0voters
I’m edging towards Panasonic but I’ve never had one of their TVs before?
I had a Panasonic a few years ago and never had any problems with it. Now have an OLED LG which I really like. Fantastic picture streaming with Apple TV.
I have had an aversion to Sony since I can remember, but last year, both the salesperson and our own research convinced us to go with Sony and so far it has proven to be the right choice. Sure, it has had its glitches (sometimes loses Wifi, only to regain it after a few seconds, and we’ve had it crash on occasion), but the quality of the picture processing is unparalleled. And it runs Android TV which isn’t going anywhere any time soon, while Samsung still runs its own OS, where apps suddenly become obsolete a few years down the line.
With regards to picture quality, we got a mini-LED that might as well be an OLED, the blacks are blacks and the HDR/DV brightness and contrast are insanely good.
One thing to note that may not be immediately obvious and cause headaches to gamers is that you have to choose Game mode in Picture Settings when playing games (e.g. on GeForce Now or a console); if you keep it on ‘movie’ or any other mode, the post-processing the TV does introduces a lot of lag!
Just bought a Panasonic for upstairs and it’s really great and was from Panasonic Direct at a great price. Built in Fire TV and Freely and also has Dolby Vision/Atmos and works great with Sonos Beam and consoles
There have been murmurs of both LG and Samsung possibly getting freely at some point as an app but who knows when. I guess it depends if it gets popular.
I was disappointed the freely system wasn’t just an app for anything like Pluto etc.
Might be a silly question but would something like EE’s Apple TV offering not serve the same purpose? Would mean you could use the Apple TV as your daily driver then just opt for whichever TV is the best quality/price combo for you. (Personally I’ve gone for LG’s though their WebOS is rubbish).
Of your options I’d go Panasonic unless you can find a good TCL in person, but I wouldn’t trust the built-in software from any of those brands on my home network. (I don’t trust LG either, hence the AppleTV suggestion)
Cerberus
(There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.)
15
One thing to check is what panel they actually use. Sometimes manufacturers just buy panels from other providers and run their own software.
Samsung OLED or QD-OLED are best for watching movies if you are happy to play around with colour settings.
Sony are great colour wise straight out of the box.
‘EE’s Apple TV box’ is only available if you’re got EE Broadband - it’s not a standalone product for some reason.
I’ve also got the ‘TV Launcher’ app for Apple TV that gives me access to a lot of ‘live’ TV through the various apps.
But this is where it’s slightly weird in that ‘Freely’ is a replacement for Freeview - eventually the plan would be that everyone would have a good enough internet connection that they can start to flog off the Digital TV spectrum again and so Freely generally has all the Freeview channels available on it - even those that don’t have a dedicated app. Obviously, those are not ‘premium’ channels (like the ‘True Crime’ channel) but it’s still a difference. Also, it’s a seamless experience between the TV guide and and launching the channel on these TVs, compared to going into the TV Launcher app on my Apple TV box, and then selecting a channel to watch, and then the launcher switching out to the relevant app and then trying to find the live channel etc.etc.
So, this is more about future proofing as I need a new TV anyway.
I have also considered a Sky Glass TV (and several times got to the ‘click to checkout’ stage of ordering it)
While Sky is a (very) closed ecosystem, it’s easy, simple and just works. Even with non-Sky streaming services. Not cheap but you’re paying for the convenience & content. I’m using 5 Sky streamers at the mo (2 Glass, 3 pucks) and I wouldn’t change it for anything despite constant research into alternatives.
Sony for me is my go to brand for AV equipment. There is a Sony tax to pay but they generally have the to my eyes and ears the best quality picture and audio.
